I had a long night last night, a night filled with places and people galore, many of which you will not read about here. What you will read about here however, is the beginning part of the night, the Harlem Shakes part. This band, I like. I like them as musicians, I like them as people and I like them as potential prom dates. And judging by the turn out and the energy level in the crowd, I’m not the only one.
Okay so going into the show my spotty research on band members only served to confuse me. I came to understand that this band was comprised of orphans of a multi-branched family tree complete with inbred cousins, a pant-less grandfather on Thanksgiving and messy divorces leaving several unaccounted-for band members. I’m serious, I tried to draw a diagram (ven). It was like reading The Brothers Karamatzov, Ivan who?
Anyways, back to the show. Smashing smashing smashing energy level. An energy level that is quite seriously lacking in this crazy, New York City garage revival scene. So as far as I can tell, the music works like this: The drums (Brent) and the bass (Jose) really kick it and get people totally moving. They drive it in a sort of a disco-down-punk-snappy way. But the melody is so catchy, that the lead (Lexy) and his swagger draw you in and sort of fix you in the songs. Upon closer listening though, the guitar (Ian) and the keys (Kendrick) move the music around so nicely and build so solidly that you find they are what you’ve sort of been reacting to a lot of the time.
The show itself was a total hit. A ton of people knew the words and were not shy about singing along, I bet that feels great if it’s your music. And then there was this really fun part where everyone started jumping up and down together. It was thrilling to see such a happy and expressive group of New Yorkers. As for a setlist, I didn’t get my hands on a solid one, but I recognized a way popular “Sickos”, and a delightful “Josh Studies”‘. There was another one I really liked, some chick said it was called “Inaffection”. I don’t know if that’s a lie or not because that’s not a real word and I don’t think she liked me talking to her very much. Also didn’t see the opening band, [The Roaring 20’s but I heard they were good. They are friends of friends so I thought I would say something nice; Thank you for having us over and I’m sorry I almost broke your laser that you so amazingly built by yourself.
So to end, some highlights; the something that sounded like a Harpsichord or other Beethoven-esque piano machine, the drunk dude in the crowd who had some of the most blissful moments I think I’ve ever seen expressed on a face, Ian’s super special sparkle guitar, and the three married dudes hitting on Rachel, Bridget and I – except for the one who I think had a crush on Jose (same guy who consequently bought me a Harlem Shakes demo – thanks drunk married guy). So all in all I’m quite taken with this band and I’m happy to have met them, and I will be taking requests for the prom, any prom really, in the near future.
